Orchids have been used in the traditional system of medicine
since time immemorial. The present communication is an account of 12 species
of orchids which are used in traditional medicine in Uttarakhand.
The work aims at presentation of this knowledge which would be valuable for
the herbal drug industry and may lead to identification of new applications
or resources. Given in this paper are the scientific names of the plants,
local names and the parts of the plant used in medicinal preparations.

Keywords: Orchids, Ethnomedicine, Western Himalaya, Uttarakhand.

Introduction

Orchids are among the most highly prized ornamental plants. Aside
from their ornamental value, orchids are also known for their medicinal usage
especially in the traditional systems of medicine. It is believed that the
Chinese were the first to cultivate and describe orchids, and they were
almost certainly the first to describe orchids for medicinal uses (Bulpitt, 2005). As early as 200 BC the Chinese
pharmacopoeia -“the Sang Nung Pen TsaoChing”, mentionsDendrobiumas asource of tonic, astringent,
analgesic, anti-inflammatory substances (Singh et al. 2007). Reinikka reports a Chinese legend that Shên­nung described Bletillastriataand a Dendrobiumspecies in his MateriaMedicaof the 28th century BC. The ancient Greeks
were the first totake note of these strange plants. One of the earliest
nomenclatures used by Theophrastus (372—286 BC) for orchids was the “Orchis” a generic name, which stands for “the testicles”
in greek (Theophrastus 1644). These testicle-like
things are basically the pair of underground tubers of many European
terrestrial orchids. In his Enquiry into Plants, Theophrastus reported
that the orchids had medicinal properties. As the Greeks believed in the Doctrine
of Signaturessuch
plants were considered good for human vitality. Later, the name was adopted
by Disocorides(1stcentury AD) in
his MateriaMedicawhere descriptions of two orchids were given along with several species
of medicinal plants. In the Indian Vedic scriptures there is a mention of the
plants under the name Vanda. The word
“Banda” is also used by the pro-dravidian
aborigines for epiphytes in the Chotanagpur Plateau
of India. The same name has been adapted as a generic name in one of the most
beautiful groups of orchids. Many orchids play a significant role in
traditional systems of medicine because they are rich in alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides and phytochemical
contents. In India
the medicinal properties of orchids have been used since Vedic period. “Ashtawarga” is a group of 8 drugs in Ayurvedicsystem which are used for preparation of tonics,
such as ‘Chyavanparas’, which consists of 4 orchid
species, vizMalaxismuscifera(Lindl.) Kuntze, MalaxisacuminataD.Don, HabenariaintermediaD.Don and HabenariaedgeworthiHook. f.
Around 40 other orchid species are being used in indigenous medicine systems
(Singh et al. 2007). The state Uttarakhand, having
237 species of orchids (Jalal et al., 2008), ranks fifth
among the Indian states in terms of orchid species richness. Orchids are
distributed throughout the state ranging from foot hills to the alpine region
but their diversity and abundance is comparatively higher in. the riverine area and moist pockets of the forest (Jalal, 2005).

Study Area

Uttarakhand lies between 28° 53’ 24” to 31° 27’ 50” N
latitudes and 77° 34’ 27”to 81° 02’ 22” E longitudes. The state is surrounded
by Tibet (China)
in the north, Himachal Pradesh in the west and the
north-west, Upper Gangetic
plains of Uttar Pradesh in the south and Nepal
in the east. It occupies an area of 53,483 km2, which accounts for
about 1.62 per cent of the total area of the country, of which 64.79% is
under forest cover (FSI, 2005). The altitude ranges from 300m to 78l7m asl. The climate of Uttarakhand
varies from subtropical to alpine. It is relatively warmer and humid compared
to rest of the Western Himalaya.

Material and Methods

The present ethnobotanical study was a
part of AICOPTAX (All India coordinated research project on orchids) project,
sponsored by Ministry of Environment and Forests, as a

part of which, the state of Uttarakhand was surveyed from 2002-2006 in different
areas in different seasons. A simple questionnaire was prepared to collect information.
During our survey we interviewed the local people and local vadya of the study area to know about the medicinal uses
of orchids. The orchid specimens were also collected. For each species
encountered, field notes were taken along with the voucher specimen, which
was processed for preparation of herbarium sheets following standard
techniques (Jain and Rao, 1977).

Results andDiscussion

This state in the Western Himalaya has
already been declared as an ‘Herbal state of India’
because of its rich medicinal plant wealth. The varied climate, topographic
features and vegetation types of the Uttarakhand
supports a number of orchids which are medicinally important along with the
eight drugs of the astawargha group, Jeewak(Malaxismuscifera), Rishbhak(Malaxisacuminata), Ridhi(Habenariaintermedia) andVirdhi(Habenariaedgeworthii).In modern time orchids of Himalayan region are only known for its
fascinating and long lasting flowers and little attention has been paid to
its life saving medicinal properties. Now when we are imparting the various
herbal values of Himalayan flora, this is also the right time to know the
medicinal value of the orchids. A list of 12 orchid species of medicinal
value has been enumerated from the state of Uttarakhand
(Table 1).

Conclusion

Being a store house of several medicinal plants, Uttarakhand has been projected as ‘Herbal state’ of India.
The state harbors a lot of medicinal plans some of which have immense
medicinal value. But still there are many other groups of plants which need
attention for their potential medicinal value. Due to depletion of wild
populations of many plants, including orchids, people have been using other
substitutes, the efficacy of which may be less than the original species.
This depletion of the wild population of these valuable plants may also be
due to unscrupulous collection of these species from the wild. Hence, there
is a need for both in-situ and in-vitro cultivation and propagation of these
medicinal orchids. Recently species recovery programmes
(Rawat, 2005) have been suggested for rare and
endangered plants in the state. Similar initiative can be undertaken for
orchids with germplasm collections and maintenance.
These germplasm collections can be used later for
in-vitro propagation. Maikhuri et al., (2003) and
Singh et al. (2005) have suggested that marketing of medicinal plants can
also be useful in conservation.

Being an important group of plants of high exotic as well as
aesthetic value, orchids need immediate protection as their populations are
dwindling. Many of known brand have started using the substitute for the
original ayurvedic plants one such example is that
of Eulophiadabia,
which is so rare now a days that it has been substituted by Satyriumnepalense. Therefore,
more knowledge is needed regarding the spread of orchids to determine better
the localities to be protected in the future. The latest studies of orchids
have shown that the exploration of wild orchid species is needed in order to
give additional data in the future.

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the Director, Wildlife Institute of India,
Dehradun for encouragement and facilities for
conducting this study. The Ministry of Environment and Forest,
Government of India
is acknowledged for financial support of this study.